Ezekiel 13:1-23  Thy Prophets are like Foxes in the Desert

[Study Aired April 15, 2024]

Introduction

Today’s study is about false prophets who lead the Lord’s people astray. Right from the formative years of the people of Israel, there were people who claimed to have heard from the Lord and ended up deceiving the Lord’s people.  This has continued throughout the history of the Lord’s people to date. All of the Lord’s chosen people have to contend with false prophets. This is what Peter and the rest of the apostles had to contend with during their time. 

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

Today’s study will help us to know more about our time in the physical churches of this world or Babylon where we were under the influence of false prophets, the characteristics of these false prophets, the way they operate, and the extent of the negative influence they wield over the Lord’s people. 

False Prophets Among the Lord’s People

Eze 13:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 13:2  Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Eze 13:3  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

These verses show us who a false prophet is. False prophets are people who claim to speak on behalf of God, but actually what they are saying comes from their own heart. This definition of a false prophet means that we all at some point in our walk with Christ were false prophets as we spoke from our own hearts and were deceived to think that they were the words of the Lord. This is what Apostle Paul has to say about false prophets coming from among us:

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

As we are aware, the beast, or the flesh within us, receives its power from the devil. This means that man’s wisdom and tradition, which comes from within us, are all influenced by the devil. However, we were deceived to think that what comes from within us is in accordance with the word of the Lord when we started our walk with Christ. This is because even though we have come to know Christ, we were still under the influence of the flesh. 

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

It is when Christ comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and with His brightness that the influence of the flesh starts to dwindle. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

In verse 3, following our own spirit to prophesy is the same as speaking from the flesh, which is influenced by the devil. These are the perverse things which are attractive to those who walk in the flesh and therefore are drawn away by these false prophets. It is the spirit the Lord has put in us which causes us to speak according to the word of the Lord since the spirit comes to us to guide us to the truth of the word of the Lord.

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 
Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Eze 13:4  O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

Here in verse 4, the prophets of Israel are compared to foxes in the deserts. In the scriptures, foxes are used in a negative sense of them being spoilers of vines. 

Son 2:15  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

As we are aware, our Lord Jesus Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. The prophets being referred to as foxes therefore signify that the leaders in the churches of this world or Babylon, rather destroy the relationship between the Lord (vine) and His children (the branches).

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The prophets being described as foxes in the desert also suggest that Israel has become a desolate place where foxes roam about. In other words, Babylon or the physical churches of this world has become a place where there is no truth of the word of the Lord which is signified by lack of water (desert).  That is where these false prophets (foxes) do their business.  

Lam 5:18  Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

Eze 13:5  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
Eze 13:6  They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. 
Eze 13:7  Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?

Here we are given to know the works of the false prophets among us. In verse 5, we are told that they do not repair the gaps in the wall or rebuild the wall as a defense for the nation of Israel. As a result, the people of Israel were not protected in a battle on the day of the Lord. In summary, the hallmark of these false prophets is that they do not prepare us, His elect, for the judgment of our old man. Their preaching of smooth things and prophesying of deceit are contrary to the fact that we are to be judged for the sins we have committed against the Lord.

Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

One of their modes of operation is that they always talk about what they have seen in the spirit, when they have not seen anything but vanity or lying divination as shown in verse 6. I remember about a year ago, I went with my family to a hotel to have breakfast. I was sitting down waiting for them to come from serving themselves before I went for mine. A man sitting close by approached my table and told me that he saw in the spirit that a demon had entered my daughter, and so if I don’t mind, he wants to pray for her. I gently told him that he shouldn’t worry, and that nothing will happen to her. These men always want to have control or dominion over the Lord’s people. This is what Peter said about these men:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 
2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 
2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2Pe 2:16  But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. 
2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

Eze 13:8  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. 
Eze 13:9  And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 

These verses show us how the Lord is judging us because we have seduced the Lord’s people by our false visions and lies. We all, at a certain period of our walk with Christ, were peddling false doctrines and were therefore making another Jesus attractive to the Lord’s people.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

In verse 9, our situation in Babylon was such that we were not considered a part of the assembly of the Lord’s elect as our names were not written in the Book of Life. As a result, we were not given to become overcomers as we possessed our bodies. At that time, we did not know that the Lord was against us. Although we were ignorant of our circumstance, we were not exonerated from the deeds of the flesh and therefore must face the Lord’s judgment of our old man.

1Ti 1:12  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 
1Ti 1:13  Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 
1Ti 1:14  And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 
1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 
1Ti 1:16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 
1Ti 1:17  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Eze 13:10  Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
Eze 13:11  Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. 
Eze 13:12  Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
Eze 13:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.

A simpler rendition of these verses is as follows:

Eze 13:10  Those prophets refuse to be honest. They tell my people there will be peace, even though there’s no peace to be found. They are like workers who think they can fix a shaky wall by covering it with paint.
Eze 13:11  But when I send rainstorms, hailstones, and strong winds, the wall will surely collapse.
Eze 13:12  People will then ask the workers why the paint didn’t hold it up. 
Eze 13:13  That wall is the city of Jerusalem. And I, the LORD God, am so angry that I will send strong winds, rainstorms, and hailstones to destroy it. (CEV)

What these verses mean is that when we come to Babylon, the basic foundation of the word of the Lord which we have received, and which serves as the wall that separates us from the world, is destroyed by the paint of false doctrine which is smeared over the walls. 

Psa 11:3  If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? 
Psa 11:4  The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. 

If we are called and chosen, then our walls or false doctrines shall surely come crashing down as the Lord comes to judge us by sending rainstorms, hailstones and strong winds. These walls of false doctrines within our heavens prevent us from seeing the truth of the word of the Lord. We have learned over the past weeks that coming to know the truth of the Lord’s words through our fiery trials is what it means to see the glory of the Lord. The rainstorm, or the overflowing shower, the hailstones and the strong winds are all the Lord’s Judgment, and they represent various types of the fire of the word of the Lord. The Lord’s judgment is also His fury or wrath which is meted out against our old man.

Psa 148:8  Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word: 

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Eze 13:14  So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 
Eze 13:15  Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; 
Eze 13:16  To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.

In verse 14, we are assured of the Lord’s intervention to destroy our painted wall, which when seen from the outside, is nice to behold, but from within this painted wall represents the false doctrines of Babylon which lead to extortion and excess.

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 
Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 
Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Again in verse 15, the Lord has made it clear to us, His elect, that He will accomplish His wrath or judgment on our old man which shall result in the destruction of this wall of false doctrines. What this means is that what the Lord starts, He is able to complete it. 

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

The Lord is also warning us in verse 16 that there is no peace in Babylon. Although we prophesy of peace in Babylon, what we experience is the peace that the world gives. The peace that is of the Lord is through His words and it defies human understanding.

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Eze 13:17  Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them, 
Eze 13:18  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you? 

The daughters of the Lord’s people signify the various churches of this world who prophecy from the flesh. Verse 18 gives us a clear picture of what happens to the Lord’s people in these physical churches of this world. A simpler rendition of verse 18 is shown below:

Eze 13:18  “Tell them, ‘This is what the Almighty LORD says: How horrible it will be for women who sew magic charms for people’s wrists and make magic veils of every size for people’s heads. You want to trap people. You want to control the lives of my people for your own profit. (GW)

The magic charms for people’s wrists signify the emphasis of the churches of this world on the works of our hands instead of obedience to the Lord. These works of the flesh have become like magic charms in the sense we are taught that it is through these works of the flesh the Lord blesses us.

The teachings that go on in the churches of this world are like veils of various sizes that cover our faces such that we cannot see the light of Christ. We end up being entrapped in the churches of this world as our lives are controlled by the churches for their own profit. This is what Jude has to say about our lives in the churches of this world:

Jud 1:10  But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 
Jud 1:11  Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 
Jud 1:12  These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 
Jud 1:13  wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Eze 13:19  And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? 

In verse 19, we are further told that the churches of this world dishonor or pollute the Lord in the eyes of the worshipers. How is the Lord dishonored in the churches of this world? It is when we say that the Lord will burn people forever for the sins they committed here on earth. Thus, we make the Lord seem like an unforgiving person who created the world, with all the people in it, only to destroy them because He has failed in achieving His aim of letting them become obedient sons and daughters. They forget that the Lord’s mercies endure forever!! As we can see from the last part of verse 19, the Lord’s people are lied to!!

Psa 136:1  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.
Psa 136:2  O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth forever. 
Psa 136:3  O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth forever.
Psa 136:4  To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth forever.
Psa 136:5  To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth forever.
Psa 136:6  To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth forever.

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

The handful of barley and pieces of bread that we receive in the churches of this world which represent the word of the Lord are all polluted or contaminated with false doctrines. We, the Lord’s elect, are the souls that should not have died. However, in Babylon, we end up becoming spiritually dead. The souls alive that should not live in verse 19 represent our old man that should have died but is rather empowered by our false doctrines in Babylon. 

Eze 13:20  Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. 
Eze 13:21  Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

The Lord is saying here in verse 20 that He is against the magic bands (pillows) of Babylon which make them hunt souls like birds, and He will surely deliver these souls out of Babylon. We, the Lord’s elect, are blessed by the Lord who has delivered us from the snare of the fowler as we escaped from Babylon like a bird. The snare of the fowler is the magic bands or the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition in Babylon which the Lord continues to destroy from our heavens. 

Psa 124:6  Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! 
Psa 124:7  We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
Psa 124:8  Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. 

The kerchiefs in verse 21 are the veils that covered our faces in Babylon, making it impossible for us to see the light of the truth of the word of the Lord in Babylon. The Lord is assuring us that He will tear apart the veil that covers our faces to make us see and hear the truth of the word of the Lord. 

2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 
2Co 3:16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 
2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

Seeing and hearing the truth of the Lord’s words is what delivers us from our captivity in Babylon. As shown in verse 21, what it means to be delivered from Babylonian captivity is that we are no longer under the influence of the false doctrines perpetuated by the false prophets in Babylon and that we have come to know who the Lord is!!

Psa 126:1  A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Psa 126:2  Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. 
Psa 126:3  The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. 
Psa 126:4  Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. 
Psa 126:5  They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 
Psa 126:6  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Eze 13:22  Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: 
Eze 13:23  Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Verse 22 is showing us that the lies of the enemy are what strengthens our hands to be entrenched in our wickedness. From verse 22, we can also say that it is the truth of the Lord’s words which makes us joyful. The lies of the enemy bring sadness to our hearts. Through the Lord’s deliverance, we are no longer seeing vanity or divine divination, but the truth of the word of the Lord. Knowing the truth means coming to know that Jesus is indeed Lord of everything!!

Psa 45:7  Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 
Psa 45:8  All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

May His name be praised for evermore!! Amen!!

Song of Solomon, Part 5 – The Bride Adores Her Beloved – Son 2:8-17

“Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.”  (Act 2:28)

[Study Aired November 26, 2022]

Let’s be reminded, and consider by all accounts, how close we are to the literal “time of the end” (Dan 8:17). If this climax from years of impassioned learning results in reviewing and mechanically overlaying that education on the Song of Solomon and stimulates us with possibly the same dull, perfunctory kiss goodnight somewhat common with our earthly marriages, we are tolerably poor, blind, and naked in our desire for Christ.

To maximise the physical and resultant spiritual, the individual must focus on delicate details of every breath and interactive responses that amplify sensory spiritual delights. To mitigate the worldly internal narrative of “let’s get it over and done with” without deeply feeling every nuance of our Husband’s and our sensory reactions does not display a Shulamite love. All husbands are sensitive to Leah’s “weak eyes” and the disdain of Queen Vashti for his wife’s lack-lustre desire against being aroused. To resist luxuriating deeply in our spouse’s every sensory reaction is what Israel did to Christ, His first wife, in the wilderness.

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

With our Lord’s expected blessings, let’s continue the Song of Solomon 2:8-17.

Son 2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
Son 2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. 
Son 2:10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 
Son 2:11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 
Son 2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle [dove] is heard in our land;
Son 2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 
Son 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Son 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Son 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. 
Son 2:17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Mountains, both negatively and positively, figure very strongly in scripture. We know they represent our self-righteousness, nations, trials by the kings that ruled over us or the Lord’s righteousness depicted as the Mount of the Lord.

In the prior studies, our Lord’s word and spirit are signified by His voice and breath. In the last sentence of Song of Solomon S 2:8, the embodiment of the Song has him “leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills”. That expression of unbridled joy is the nature of the New Jerusalem above. That same joy David, and most of Israel, experienced when he returned the Ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. David’s first wife, Michal, typifies the Lord’s first wife in the wilderness, displaying resounding dispassion for the unity of spirit. Michal despised David’s leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills of Jerusalem (2Sa 6:16-23), and her spirit brought forth rotten fruit; Michal remained barren until death. Likewise, if our dispassion for our Lord’s conjugal rights and His leaping upon our mountains and skipping upon our hills is met with indifference, we will remain barren of His righteousness.

The New Jerusalem, the city of peace, represents the Shulamite. She is now one mountain of the Lord, Mt Zion within. He has broken the dividing walls of the covenant that she represents by Mt Sinai and Old Jerusalem. She is imminently the New Heavenly Jerusalem.

Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Jerusalem, like no other city in the world, has greater significance for mankind, particularly the Bride. It is built upon seven hills or mounts,  three to the east and four to the west and is represented as primarily being built upon the Mount of Olives, divided into two hills, the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives, by the valley of Kidron.

The seven ‘mounts’ are the Mount of Olives, Mount Scopus, Mount of Corruption or Offence, the original Mount Zion or Temple Mount (Sion), a hill with more recent buildings called Western Hill or, in modern times, the New Mt Zion, Mount Ophel and Anotonia. The Elect of God is familiar with the spiritual meanings of the individual numbers, and their additions typify Jerusalem outwardly and within. As a symbol of the entire world, she is deeply divided geographically and particularly spiritually.

The number of hills or mounts on which Jerusalem is built and their meanings all point to ours and the world’s judgement.

Witness – the Temple Mount and Mount of Olives.
The process of spiritual completion of the process of judgment. Anything to do with three has to do with a process. The number three signifies our process of spiritual progression toward maturity.
The whole of anything and tribulation.

The additions of 3 and 4:

Completion and Judgment with Jerusalem being named in scripture as Sodom, Egypt and Babylon. [Jer 29:10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.] 

Negatively, “betwixt” the depths of her two primary hills emanates the most profound scent of dissolute arousal (as opposed to myrrh in Song of Solomon 1:3 [betwixt her breasts]) from our old mother with her contorted emotions of lust and hate in government and the doctrine of death that has shaken and will shake the world to its core. The old Mount of Olives symbolises the world divided into the North, South, East and West, with its seven hills representing Babylon, the seven continents of the world. The Bride has been chosen to come out of those former ways, and she looks forward to her Lord’s feet standing, skipping [H1801 – leaping] for joy on her Mount, cleaved in two from which will flow spiritual purity from her heart.

The Bride is the New Jerusalem above, the mother of us all within. She has been through her judgments, and in a heightened state of spiritual arousal, awaits her Lord’s feet touching down in her heart. Effectively, her Lord has already touched down on her with her spiritual sisters within; out of her will flow the living waters which will heal the earth.

Zec 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. 

With its seven mountains, Jerusalem is prophesied to be completed for judgment, and Solomon poetically envisioned her as his Bride. The Bride is about to have her Lord’s feet touch down on her, and she will rule with Him on the seventh day and then judge with him on the eighth day, resulting in all the hills and mountains of her inherited children being laid flat. It is not too much of a stretch of the imagination to note the paradox that her full figure of physical femininity will be laid flat in the Kingdom, shadowing a monarchy of neither male nor female since all will be one spirit in God. What counts is the lasting spiritual meaning to which the mountains of her physical femininity point.

Zec 14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 
Zec 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Zec 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 
Zec 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Zec 14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 

Isa 2:1  The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 

Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 
Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

For the Bride, the mountains and sea of flesh with its self-glorification, trials and dark depths of filth, are gone. The Bride’s fearful trembling in the presence of her Lord is changed into an unreserved trembling of delight for what he is about to imbue in her, the full measure of his spirit. Although the Song of Solomon’s imagery is earthy and sounds indelicate, her Lord now leaps upon her seven mountains that feature Jerusalem, the curvacious and beautiful new city she is. She trembles, and her heart beats beneath her mountains to the rhythm of His feet skipping.

Eze 37:22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: 
Eze 37:23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 

Isa 2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Psa 114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; 
Psa 114:2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. 
Psa 114:3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. 
Psa 114:4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. 
Psa 114:5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? 
Psa 114:6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? 
Psa 114:7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; 
Psa 114:8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

The Bride’s heightened anticipation seems to flood her mind with an apparent disorder of poetic consummative events. If we were to accurately map any person’s pattern of thinking and present it on a computer screen, we would see a jumble of intersecting and divergent thoughts with no connection to the primary aim of the task at hand. Such is the Bride’s mind’s immense flexibility to track multiple arousals seemingly without order.

Son 2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

As a stag in a forest with an exceptionally keen sense of awareness of his surroundings sees a hunter long before the threat sees him, the Bride likens her Lord’s indulgent watchfulness upon her to the fixed gaze of a majestic stag with its two eyes as “one eye” of spiritual devotion for her. Perhaps, and with sensual delight, she is modestly aware of her Lord’s gaze upon her beauty, which sets mutually fiery arousals in motion.

A derivative of a lattice (H2762) is H2760 and is related to initiating a thing and roasting. That same initiating of fiery arousals in the negative is a harlot’s machinations that roast her suitor upon his adulteries with a fiery dart through his liver (Prov 7:23).

King David is a classic example of furtively looking through a symbolic lattice at Bathsheba bathing on a nearby rooftop; he, too, became unrighteously aroused and entangled in a snare of dreadful consequences, roasting in the fiery coals for our intense learning.

In a positive sense, the Shulamite and her Lord are immensely passionate about each other. She has been spiritually diligent in her submission to her Lord. She has been spiritually roasted by the fiery word of God and is about to eat the yield of that furnace in the wedding supper with her Lord in the Kingdom.

H2760 – Lattice.
– Original: חרך
– Transliteration: Charak
– Phonetic: khaw-rak’
– Definition:
(Qal) to set in motion, start
(CLBL) to roast
– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 741,742
– Part(s) of speech: Verb

– Strong’s: A primitive root; to braid (that is to entangle or snare) or catch (game) in a net: – roast. 

Total KJV Occurrences: 1 
roasteth, 1
Pro 12:27 The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. 

Son 2:10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Son 2:11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The Lord comforts his Bride, remembering that the fiery trials of desolate wintery flesh are gone along with the flood of death the Dragon sent after her (Rev 12:7-17). The early rains and latter rains for her spiritual growth have done their work, and she is the fruit of His labour within her.

The beauty of His personally designed and measured Bride is portrayed as the New Jerusalem.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

She is the epitome of righteous beauty and fruitfulness, clothed with the sun, her Lord, with her sisters in Babylon under her feet (Rev 12:1). Her Lord will take her away to be one in Him forever.

Son 2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle [dove] is heard in our land;
Son 2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

The Bride is the first fruits of her Lord, whom he planned for himself. Birds symbolise good or evil spirits. She is the peaceful spirit, and her righteous spirit sings a new song that pleases all in their land. She envisions her Lord coming at midnight, and with her lamp trimmed, she comes away with him. They both enjoy the beautiful first fruits that her Lord has bountifully grown within her. The following verses speak of the Bride.

Job 38:5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 
Job 38:6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Zep 3:14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 
Zep 3:15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 
Rev 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 
Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God

The Bride continues with her adoration. Her Lord’s word has blessed her with deep, abiding peace, the assurance of her inheritance.

Son 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

Her Lord is the dove, the spirit of peace. He is the rock of her salvation who has hidden her in Him; he resides in the cleft of the Mount of Olives of her heart, the New Jerusalem and mother of us all. Only her Lord and she know their secret love for each other hidden from Babylon.

A paradox is that the valley of Kidron dividing the Mount was in the negative, a dark and deathly place where the eternal (age-lasting) flames of Gehenna burnt trash, dead animals and criminals. It was a place where dogs prowled and hateful birds (the vultures) squabbled. It depicts Old Jerusalem, Babylon, the depths of the whore’s filthy heart full of evil spirits. Beneath the cleft in the rock of her dividing two hills is her heart, which still rules the world today. The following verses speak of that same great city out of which we have nearly finished the “come out of her, my people” command.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Son 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 

Foxes burrow under stone walls and cause them to subside; they represent opposition to the Lord’s work and seem inconsequential (little) lies and false doctrines; they hinder the work of God within and undermine the Temple’s wall. Likewise, the hollow of one’s hand scoops and undermines another’s work.

Fox H7776
– Original: שׁעל שׁוּעל
– Transliteration: Shuw`al
– Phonetic: shoo-awl’
– Definition: 
fox, a burrower 
fox
perhaps also jackal

Fox: From the root H8168
– Original: שׁעל
– Transliteration: Sho`al
– Phonetic: sho’-al
– Definition:
hollow hand, hollow of hand, handful
hollow hand, hollow of hand
handful
– Origin: from an unused root meaning to hollow out
– TWOT entry: 2432a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
– Strong’s: From an unused root meaning to hollow out; the palm; by extension a handful: – handful hollow of the band. [misspelt. Hand?]

Both foxes, and people, are famous for spreading the most destructive pest of grapevines called Phylloxera. Phylloxera (Daktulsphaira vitifoliae) are very small aphid-like insects regarded as the world’s worst grapevine pest. They feed on the roots of grapevines and are found in most of the world’s grape-growing regions. These pests are easily transplanted in infested rootstock and undermine our supposedly fruitful vine of developing righteousness.

In the opening verses of the Song of Solomon, we discussed the nature of truthful kisses that create immense arousal for the word of God that dramatically increases the desire for more arousal in a beautiful loop of joy that we don’t wish to stop. Kisses “fasten” or seal a passionate relationship (H5390 and its root H5401 & H5400; H2388; H2836).

Perfunctory kisses can be an enemy and are like the little foxes that undermine authentic love and the walls of our Temple. They are often vaguely conscious lies whose intention is deceptive ‘love’ to keep marital connectivity at a distance.

Pro 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Nehemiah was hindered by Sanballat’s undermining of the process of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

Neh 4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 
Neh 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
Neh 4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. 
Neh 4:4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 
Neh 4:5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. 
Neh 4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

Herod was likened to a fox since he, too, attempted to undermine Christ’s work and determination to follow through with the building of His Bride’s Temple.

Luk 13:31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. 
Luk 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 
Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

Son 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. 
Son 2:17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether^H1336.

The Bride is the collective of sisters within that make her the Lily. Her Lord pastured his little flock within herself in Him. They delight in the epitome of all loves, only eclipsed by the love of the Father.

Christ and his wife are in a short space where a husband cheers up his wife for a (figurative) year before going to war with judgment on the eighth day of creation. The entirety of humanity in the Lake of Fire will individually come from their torturous shadows and thick gloom that will flee away at “daybreak”. In the meantime, the Shulamite turns to her Husband for more of his kisses that are better than wine. Her heart beats to the rhythm and music of the hooves of a roe or hart upon her mount, below the cleft of the completed New Jerusalem above, the soon-to-be mother of all humanity.

Bether H1336
– Original: בּתר
– Transliteration: Bether
– Phonetic: beh’-ther
– Definition: Bether = cleft 
a mountainous region in Palestine, site unknown
– Origin: the same as H1335
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Masculine 
– Strong’s: the same as H1335; Bether a (craggy) place in Palestine: – Bether.

Total KJV Occurrences: 1 
Bether, 1
Son_2:17

The Bride has been a sacrifice, filled up from behind in the steps of her beloved Husband. The stunningly beautiful New Jerusalem descended from above in consummative spiritual femininity retains her “mounts” of that splendid city. The derivative of Bether H1336 is H1334 & H1335, and means, 1. part, piece. a. of the parts of an animal cut in half for a sacrifice. 1. to cut in two. a. (Qal) to cut in two. b. (Piel) to cut in two.

The Bride, being one in her Husband, out from her God-given heart beneath her famous mounts saves her brothers and sisters, and we remember the frequent quote,

Zec 14:8 And on that day living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them flowing to the sea on the east and half to the sea on the west: in summer and in winter it will be so. 
Zec 14:9 And the Lord will be King over all the earth: in that day there will be one Lord and his name one.

Next week, Lord willing, we continue with the Bride’s seeming interposed poetic arousals in chapter three.

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Earth, My Footstool

[Posted May, 15, 2015]

The interesting thing about a footstool is the various functions it can perform. A footstool can be a place of rest, a stepping stool and some sturdy footstools can even be used to stand on completely.

The study today is inspired by the Lord due to some events which have taken place in my heavens that brought home the concept of the Lord speaking about “footstools” in scripture.

We are going to discuss various spiritual applications of the footstool in scripture in hopes of broadening our understanding of who we and others are in Christ Jesus and to get to know Jesus Christ and God the Father a little more.

“Step On Up”

The inspiration for this study starts with the phrase “earth, my footstool” taken from Acts 7.

Act 7:49  Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

When looking at the word “footstool” in its original language, there are only a handful of scripture that mention this particular word. Each of those instances reveals what the Holy Spirit inspired to be written for our admonition.

What and where heaven is has been covered many times throughout various studies, so we’re going to briefly cover the comparisons of heaven and earth to try and determine the spiritual significance of what we are being told. However, we must look at the scripture as a whole to figure out the message the Lord is giving us.

David adds an interesting dynamic to speaking about the footstool.

1Ch 28:2  Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
1Ch 28:3  But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood.
1Ch 28:4  Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:
1Ch 28:5  And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
1Ch 28:6  And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

There is great insight to be had about who David is in relation to his “many sons” and having a particular son be “chosen out” of those sons to “sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord.”

In this type and shadow of our relationship to God the Father, and how we relate to the footstool, we see two men being talked about here. We see the old man type and the new man type.

• David, in type, is the “old man” who is a man of war and has shed blood.

Gen 9:6  Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

1Ch 22:8  But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.
1Ch 22:9  Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.
1Ch 22:10  He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom 3:13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
Rom 3:14  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Rom 3:15  Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Shedding of blood is representative of the primal and carnal nature that is in us all just as it was in Cain who received it from his parents. The first Adam is from the earthy, earthy.

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Notice, the earth is the Lord’s footstool. However, heaven is His throne, and here is the contrast.

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

And:

Luk 11:47  Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
Luk 11:48  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
Luk 11:52  Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

Where is it that the blood goes to perish?

Gen 4:10  And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the GROUND.
Gen 4:11  And now art thou cursed from the EARTH, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
Gen 4:12  When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

Who and what then is the earth in this type and shadow?

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

Jer 19:3  And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

With the earth being the footstool of the Lord, what then are we to make of the following verses?

Mar 12:35  And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?
Mar 12:36  For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

And:

Heb 10:9  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Heb 10:12  But this man, AFTER he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, SAT DOWN on the right hand of God;
Heb 10:13  From henceforth expecting till HIS ENEMIES be made his footstool.

See, scripture that we have just covered clearly state that the earth, earth, earth is clearly the footstool of Jesus. We also just read that the footstool also represents the ENEMIES of Jesus.

You might ask yourself how this can be?

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Like David in type, we all are called to be kings. Like David, we represent the people of God, the church of God which has children/sons. Out of those sons, we have one son who is “chosen out” to carry on the work of building God’s temple. In type, this is who Solomon represents.

The ONLY method by which this building of the temple can be accomplished is to recognize that the VERY CHURCH God has established is the same BODY from which God tells His faithful bride to COME OUT OF.

Therefore, the ENEMY of God is “earth, earth, earth”.

Look at the “cup” we must all drink from and compare it to the statement made in Matthew 23.

Luk 22:17  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Luk 22:18  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
Luk 22:19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Why are these being contrasted and compared?

The cup, which is the New Testament in His blood, is SHED for us. We know that Jesus Christ is the sacrifice which was made which also was a sacrifice that was made with Jesus Christ never having been guilty of sin.

Everything that makes humanity “of the earth, earthy” is the enemy, the footstool of God. The footstool is cutoff in its negative application.

Lam 2:1  How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
Lam 2:2  The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
Lam 2:3  He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

However, the wonderful good news of the Gospel is that there is positive application of the footstool which all of humanity is moving towards.

Mat 23:39  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

That is to say…

Luk 22:18  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

We are able to sit down and being seated with Christ, in type just like Solomon, when the NEW MAN in us is born.

1Ch 28:5  And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
1Ch 28:6  And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

Another positive attribute of a footstool is that it is a place of rest. Feet represent the walk we have with the Lord.

A footstool or footrest is used to prop one’s feet up for rest. So when the enemy of the Lord is put under His heel, then we can see that it is the very thing with which DEATH is conquered.

Look at these two spiritual concepts.

Mat 8:20  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Jesus wasn’t telling the multitudes that He didn’t have a place to sleep at night. Foxes and birds represents spiritual things just as the Son of MAN represents having a HEAD which has nowhere to REST.

What is in a HEAD? Is it not a MIND? Where is HEAVEN? Is it not ABOVE? Where is the throne of God? It is in HEAVEN. Where are we seated? We are seated with Christ in in heavenlies. What did Christ come to do? He came to do the WILL of GOD.

Act 7:47  But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48  Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49  Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

And…

Act 7:54  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Act 7:56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

The rest I speak of is:

Heb 3:10  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11  So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
Heb 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore COME BOLDLY unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

COME BOLDY unto the THRONE of GRACE and find REST with your HEAD who has gone before you like a child being born into the world HEAD FIRST.

When Jesus Christ made the statement He had nowhere to lay His head, He was still walking this earth. When He went onto perfection, He FOUND a place to LAY His HEAD…HIS FATHER.

Here then is the Lord using His place of rest in a positive application. It’s negative for the old man which must die, but positive for the new man which WILL LIVE!

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
2Co 12:11  I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

Do any of you have infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions and distresses? What is the difference in these things being worked in us and in the rest of the world?

It is the FRUIT that is BORN. It is the FRUIT of the SPIRIT that springs forth into newness of Life.

Mar 14:24  And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Mar 14:25  Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the FRUIT OF THE VINE, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Mar 14:26  And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

Let us sing a hymn, and be merry and of good cheer. We head toward the mount of Olives, to BECOME the OLIVE TREES. We will BECOME just like our MASTER.

Rom 11:15  For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17  And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

Here is our race and the reward for running it:

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Do you possess the power to SHUT and OPEN heaven?

Do you possess the power of the Word of God, the washing of water by the WORD, to turn that water into LIFE given BLOOD, which was shed and is now being used to CLEANSE and SAVE all of humanity in God’s timing?

Yes!

Let us SMITE the EARTH with PLAGUES, the same footstool of God, which will later produce His True Church of God.

Have lips and praise of thanksgiving and be of good cheer, for the Lord loves you!

Amen and Amen